A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Perti, Jacopo

by Franz Gehring

PERTI, Jacopo Antonio, one of the most distinguished church-composers of the 17th century, born at Bologna June 6, 1661; at ten began to learn music from his uncle, Lorenzo Perti, a priest of San Petronio. Having finished his education at the Jesuit College and the University, he studied composition with Padre Petronio Franceschini. In 1680 he conducted in San Petronio a Missa solennis of his own composition for soli, choir, and orchestra. Hia first two operas 'Atide' (1679) and 'Oreste' (1681), were given in Bologna; those that followed, 'Marzio Coriolano,' libretto by Frencasco Valsini (anagram of Francesco Silvani) (1683); 'Brenno in Efeso' (1690); 'L'Inganno scoperto' (1691); 'Furio Camillo' (1692); 'Nerone fatto Cesare' (l693); and 'Laodicea e Berenice' (1695), in Venice, at the theatres SS. Giovanni e Paolo, and San Salvatore. His oratorio 'Abramo vincitor de' propri affetti' was printed in Bologna in 1687, and performed under his own direction in the palace of Count Francesco Caprara.^[1] Fétis, followed by Mendel, speaks of his relations with the German Emperors Leopold and Carl VI, but the writer of this article has failed to discover any documentary evidence to support the assertion that he was made Capellmeister by the Emperor Leopold, and Hofrath by Carl VI. In Köchel's Life of Fux, the most trustworthy book on the period, no mention is to be found of Giacomo Perti in connection with the court; the only instance of the name being Antonio Perti, a bass-singer in the Hofcapelle. It is moreover beyond a doubt that Perti was Maestro di cappella of San Petronio in Bologna, and retained the post till his death, April 10, 1756. Gerber states that a Te Deum of Perti's was sung under his own direction in Vienna, on the relief of the Turkish siege in 1683, but this must be a mistake, as Perti had then not made his name, and was scarcely known beyond Bologna. He was elected a member of the Filarmonici on March 13, 1681, and at the time of his death had been 'Principe' six times. Among his friends was Pope Benedict XIV, with whom he kept up a close correspondence. Another friend was Padre Martini, who states in his 'Saggio di Contrapunto' (ii. 142) that he held communications on musical subjects with Perti down to 1750. Besides 'Abramo' he printed in Bologna 'Cantate morali e spirituali' (1688), and 'Messe e Salmi concertati' (1735). Abbate Santini had a fine collection of Perti's church works (4 masses, 3 Confitebors, 4 Magnificats, etc.), unfortunately now dispersed. His 'Elogio' was pronounced before the Filarmonici by Dr. Masini in 1812, and printed in Bologna. There is an 'Adoramus Te' by Perti in the Fitzwilliam Library, Cambridge, and Novello has included two fine choruses by him in his 'Sacred Music' (vol. ii) and 'Motetts' (bk. xi). Others are given by Choron, and in the 'Auswahl fur vorzüglicher Musikwerke.'

[ F. G. ]

1. Cinelli's 'Biblioteca volante,' Scanzle xlv.